DIYbanter - View Single Post - Advice sought Pioneer SX-434

Fred McKenzie

In article ,
wrote:

Greetings All,
I have an old reciever/amplifier, the Pioneer SX-434. My folks bought
it back in 1973 or '72. I think. Anyway, it sounded great when I was
in high school and then later when it somehow migrated to my house in
the early '80s. Somewhere along the way it was relegated to the garage
and then the basement in my new house. It has not been powered up in
years, at least 15. But it worked great then. Now it has a chance to
provide me with listening pleasure once again. In my machine shop. I
need new speakers, I gave the old ones away. But before I hook up new
speakers and plug in the iPod, is there anything I should ckeck first?
Should I open it up and look for stuff coming out of electrolytic
capacitors? Should it be run at a low volume for a period of time? I
would love to have the thing working for me again. A little nostalgia.
My dad, who will be 80 in a couple months, would be delighted to hear
it when he comnes by to visit. He doesn't even know I still have it.

Eric-

Some friends who restore old equipment, insist that you should use a
VariAC (Variable Auto Transformer) to bring the AC power up very slowly.
This allows the electrolytic capacitors to reform.

Yes, some old components may have deteriorated, but quality of
components used in the 70s was much better than of components from
earlier years. You may need to spray some contact cleaner on switch
contacts and inside volume controls, but chances are fairly good that it
will work OK.

Fred